This invention generally relates to an article vending machine which contains articles to be dispensed but has no coin apparatus for dispensing such articles. The invention relates more specifically to a satellite vending machine which is connected to another vending machine having a coin apparatus to enable purchases to be made from the satellite machine as a function of coin deposit in the other machine.
There are many different kinds of machines for vending articles. Generally, such machines are designed to vend specific types of articles, as for example, packages of cigarettes. While these machines permit some latitude in accommodating different size cigarette packages, they are nevertheless limited in their design to accept the more conventional sizes. For example, presently available machines cannot accommodate 120 mm cigarettes because their magazines have been designed to accept packages for smaller size cigarettes. The design of new magazines with larger size compartments to accommodate, for example, 120 mm cigarettes means the loss of sales of the smaller size cigarette packages or if redesigned to accommodate both the larger 120 mm and the smaller 100 mm and regular sizes means reduced sales of each type. Accordingly, rather than expanding the sale of cigarettes, this expedient would surely curtail it. Moreover other problems are necessarily entailed in operating a vending machine with packages of widely varying size. For example, the size of the ejector heads of ejectors on which the stacks of the cigarette packages sit would have to be increased for correspondence to the package size, else jamming of the packages may occur due to tilting.
One solution to the problem of accommodating articles of diverse size is of course to make a separate vending machine which will accommodate the larger sizes. This, however, means the use of a second independent and fully equipped machine; i.e. having its own cancellation or clearing shaft and coin mechanism for mechanical machines and its own motor, coin mechanism and price board etc. for electrical machines which not only increases the cost of installation but also takes up valuable space since such separate machine will necessarily be located proximate the other machine.